The World Around You

A new blog dedicated to the 2004 election as seen in the blogosphere has done an informal count of the number of times presidential candidates are being mentioned on blogs. The results are not surprising.

This is obviously a response to media pressure, but a needed step nonetheless,

Senate President Pro Tem Lowell Barron on Tuesday appointed a committee to review pay for Senate staff, according to a memo from his office.

Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, will chair the bipartisan five-member committee. It is charged with “address(ing) issues related to compensation of Senate staff.”

Figures could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

The Mobile Register reported Nov. 9 that some state senators had doled out more than $200,000 in extra pay to certain Senate employees during the last two years. Amid a state financial crisis, payments had ranged from supplements of a few hundred dollars per paycheck to one-time bonuses of several thousand dollars, state payroll records showed.

According to several Senate officials, the extra money is well-deserved by secretaries and clerks with added responsibilities. The officials noted that legislative employees do not qualify for overtime pay despite their long and often unpredictable hours during legislative sessions.

Both sides have a point. The employees did deserve extra pay for the late hours, but theere should be a policy as to what that amount is, rather than leaving it to a chairman’s discretion.

I hope Alabamians remember those who are suffering because of the lack of state funds this holiday season.

Amanda Rickman will put in her last day today as a state-salaried law clerk to Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Caryl Privett. Then she’ll be working without pay.

She’s one of about 400 employees of Alabama trial courts who were notified a few days ago that they’ll have to be laid off as of Nov. 28 because the state can’t pay them.

“What I’m going to do is, I’ll probably keep volunteering here at least through the holidays with no pay, just so I don’t leave my judge and her judicial assistant with no one in the office to help them,” said Rickman.

“It’s going to be hard. I’m fortunate to have caring parents that are going to help me out as much as they can in terms of getting my bills paid,” she said.

Rickman got her law degree in May at Cumberland Law School, passed her bar exam in August and has worked for Privett since then. Now she’s job-hunting, and the prospects don’t look particularly bright.

Happy Holidays!

If I did not live in Alabama this story would surprise me, but it doesn’t,

Former Auburn cheerleader Christopher Bailey said “War Eagle” one time too many.

Bailey, who became a University of Alabama cheerleader after transfering this year, gave the Auburn cheer on national television Saturday night while wearing the uniform of the Crimson Tide — and promptly got booted off the UA cheerleading squad.

Bailey, 23, was cut after Tide athletic officials received e-mail complaints concerning the interview Bailey did on ESPN during the televised Iron Bowl. A cheerleader for Auburn for three years, Bailey said he still has strong feelings for Auburn and during the interview with ESPN’s Adrian Karsten he complied with her request to say “War Eagle” and “Roll Tide.”

The decision was made at a meeting Monday between UA athletic director Mal Moore, cheerleading coordinator Debbie Greenwell and Bailey.

As a first-year member of the cheerleading unit, Bailey would not have been eligible to travel to Hawaii for Saturday’s Alabama football game against the Rainbow Warriors. But now he will not be allowed to cheer for Tide athletics during the spring semester either.

This may sound like a silly story, but this situation has really cost this guy a great deal. He will lose a partial scholarship and the opportunity to pursue his ambition to compete in national cheerleading competitions.

At the same time, someone who was the head cheerleader at Auburn should know his audience much better than this. The reaction was immediate and vocal and the action that followed was just as immediate.

UPDATE: Steven files this story under Alabama Politics as well.